As the full effect of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments passed by Congress in 1990 continue to impact today's industry, many manufacturing operations have become subject to stricter local, State and Federal clean air regulations. Both VOC (volatile organic compound) and HAP (hazardous air pollutant) emissions are strictly regulated since they lead to the formation of ground level ozone ...
As the full effect of 1990’s Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments continue to impact today’s industry, many manufacturing operations have become subject to stricter local, state and federal clean air regulations. Both VOC (volatile organic compound) and HAP (hazardous air pollutant) emissions are strictly regulated since they lead to the formation of ground-level ozone (or smog). The CAA ...
Within industry today, the use of an Air Pollution Control System (APCS) to control harmful air pollutants is not new. In response to Congressional guidelines passed in the 1970’s, a number of companies with VOC emissions have been operating air pollution control systems of one type or another for 25 years or more. These guidelines have been revised and added to as the years progressed, making it ...
When it comes to clean air regulations and dust collection systems, then these are nothing new. However, the new thing is the pressure that is being put on the implementation of those regulations. Even the smallest of companies and shops go through expensive fines if they do not obey this rule. Small areas may not need air filtration frequently and may also not have the required space to install ...
There is an upside for forward-thinking manufacturers regarding EPA blueprint for the way state and local regulatory agencies use the Clean Air Act permitting process to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency blueprint for the way state and local regulatory agencies use the Clean Air Act permit process to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in ...
When you run a family-owned business, success comes with hard work and some difficult decisions. Vince Kuber was recently faced with such a decision after taking over as President and CEO of Prestige-Pak, a Wisconsin-based Flexographic printing company. His parents started the business over thirty years ago and it wasn’t long after Vince took over that the decision to expand needed to be ...
Long the focus of regulators in their efforts to clean up the air, the automobile has become so clean that there are now cases where the air coming out of the tailpipe is cleaner than the surrounding air. However, this progress was not made overnight, nor was it made because of a single technology. Instead, it was a result of continuous improvements by the automobile industry, coupled with ...
Part 2: During An Inspection Since the amendments of the Clean Air Act of 1990 were enacted, facility owners and managers have been faced with the monumental task of establishing and maintaining records of refrigerant usage and service. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires these professionals to keep extensive records and submit detailed reports of refrigerant usage, ...
The US District Court for the Northern District of New York recently struck down a New York State law that affected the US market for sulphur dioxide (SO2) allowances. In Clean Air Markets Group v Pataki,* the court ruled that New York’s law violated the Supremacy and Commerce Clauses of the US Constitution. New York enacted the anti-trading law in May 2000 with the purported goal of reducing ...
This paper reviews policies for the control of mobile source pollution and their potential application in China. The first section reviews the US experience with mobile source pollution control since regulations were first established in the Clean Air Act of 1970. Highlights in the policy and trends in vehicle emissions from 1970 to 2000 are discussed. The second section discusses the range of ...
Created by the interactions of living organisms with their environment, ecosystem services support our society by providing clean air and water, decomposing waste, pollinating flowers, regulating climate and by supplying a host of other benefits. Yet, with rare exception, ecosystem services are neither prized by markets nor explicitly protected by the law. In recent years, an increasing number of ...
In a follow-up to last month’s detailed overviews of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR), this month EM presents perspectives on the two rules from representatives of a range of stakeholders, including EPA, the states, the regulated community, and the environmental community. Last month, EM featured detailed overviews of two major air quality regulations ...
INTRODUCTION The fertilizer industry has earned recognition for having contributed directly to increase world grain yields in the past century. Based on the conservative estimate of the world population growth, total fertilizer use in the future is expected to grow more than 200 million tons from the current level of 165 million tons. In U.S.A. and other countries the industries have always been ...
Counsel for industry and state petitioners seeking to overturn Environmental Protection Agency permitting requirements for stationary sources that emit greenhouse gases faced heavy questioning before the U.S. Supreme Court Feb. 24 as to the meaning of the phrase “any air pollutant” for purposes of Clean Air Act regulation (Util. Air Regulatory Grp. v. EPA, U.S., No. 12-1146, oral ...
EPA’s GHG Tailoring Rule and Senate Action On October 27, 2009, EPA published the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule in the Federal Register, followed by a 60-day public comment period that ended on December 28, 2009. The proposed rule represents EPA’s effort to decrease the number of sources subject to major source permitting ...
On June 16, 2017, James V. Aidala, Senior Government Affairs Consultant with Bergeson & Campbell, P.C. (B&C®), was quoted in the Bloomberg BNA Daily Environment Report article “Former Arizona Environment Chief Tapped as EPA's COO.” Henry Darwin, a longtime government official and former director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, will serve as EPA ...
Faced with the worst air quality in the United States, California began in the 1960s to pursue a “technology-forcing” approach in establishing motor vehicle tailpipe emission standards. This approach sought to advance vehicle pollution control technology by establishing future tailpipe emission limits even if no technologies existed to meet them at the time regulators set the standards. The U.S. ...
Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, among the various options under the current act, may offer EPA the most effective, flexible, economically reasonable, and legally supportable means by which to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The authors argue that Section 115, the section explicitly crafted to address international air pollution, has the potential to provide an appropriately flexible path ...
How can the EPA regulate GHGs? Doesn’t the Clean Air Act only apply to air pollutants? An April 2007 Supreme Court decision (Massachusetts v. EPA) ruled that GHGs are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. The court instructed the EPA to decide whether GHG emissions endanger public health and/or welfare, or if current science is too uncertain to make a reasonable judgment. In response to the ...
Part 1: Prior To An Inspection EPA fines and penalties for violations of Clean Air Act (CAA) Title VI refrigerant regulations are severe. Civil penalties include up to $27,500 per day for each violation. Criminal penalties include up to five years federal imprisonment for willful violations or for knowingly violating regulations, and two years imprisonment for submission of false ...